HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

"Good, better, best.  Never let it rest, until your good is better and your better is best."

As we start off the new year I'm not going to tell you all to make "New Year Resolutions" because most of the time they end up broken as soon as you make them.  What I will ask you is to continue to do the things that you are already doing well and do them better.  The areas that are weak and need work let's make a commitment now that we are going to focus and improve in those areas to have future success.

THE LIST

OUT WITH 2022                                   IN WITH 2023

fear of failure                                  everything you want is on the other side of failure

focusing on the uncontrollable      recognizing what I can control

dwelling on a bad swim.                 why keep something you don't want. let it go.

getting in late                                          caps on and ready to go

not having my water.                             always having my water at hand

not understanding purpose of set        understanding and performing set properly

Excuses                                                  Stopping myself before excuse leaves my lips 

Negative self talk.                                  Turning negatives to positive thoughts

self imposed limitations.                       swim past the breakers

DQ's.                                                      benefit goes to swimmer

always fiddling with goggles                get them on and stop fidgeting with them

delays during meets                              swim meets with no delays 

coach who drives into  hotel                coaches who can drive

Things from the past will either help you or hurt you.  If you dwell too long on things from the past it will eventually hurt you.  If you take those things from the past and learn from them they can propel you into a better 2023.

Something to think about today. It is my choice to "do as much or as little as I want" but what ever I decide I will have to accept the results at the end of the day.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!

CHRISTMAS EVE 2022 set

            

 

DEAR SANTA

 

I want to thank all of you for your best wishes and thoughts this holiday season.  They are very much appreciated.  

What a swimmers letter to Santa might look like.

Dear Santa,

I would like to get off to a great start in 2023 and will need a few things

to help me so if you could fill my stocking with any of the items below I would be very grateful.  Hopefully you and your elves will have the correct tools laying around the North Pole to help me in my journey.

First off I will need a positive attitude going into the new year.  With school, swimming and life all coming at me I know I will have to keep a positive attitude especially when things get tough and things don't necessarily go my way.

Next there will be times in the coming year when I will need an extra shot of motivation.  I like to work hard to reach my dreams and goals but times do arise when I am not motivated and allow those times to affect my work habits.  When those times arise I will need that extra kick to get started because I know that once I start I'll be okay and will work hard.

I want to ask that my swim group/buddies all find a way to get along.  They are my second family and

while I understand that there will be drama it's at those times it is important that we come together as a family find some patience and as the song goes "Let it go! Let it go!"   This will allow us to train and help each other towards our dreams and goals.

This year I would like to see some fast times.   I know that fast times aren't always possible and in those moments all I'm asking is a good competitive race with my opponents and when the big meets arrive on my schedule just the opportunity to be in the best possible position to achieve a personal best.

My coach has been working hard on our UWDK to give us an advantage off our walls in our races.  Give me the confidence to understand that it may be hard and uncomfortable but if I continue to work hard my efforts will show up on race day.

Santa all of these things will help as I continue to swim and race this year but if you could squeeze one more item in your bag it would be neat to have some great finishes in 2023.

P.S.Have a safe trip Santa

Hope all of you and your family have Joyful Holiday Season.

HOLIDAY WORKOUTS

 

Today’s topic we will go over some pool workouts that you can do on your own if you’re out of town and can’t make our schedule workouts.   Although it is entirely okay to be out of the pool and enjoy a little break, you do not want to stack too many days out of the pool at this time of year.

Here are three workouts for you to choose from. Set your own CHALLENGING intervals.  You can pick and choose and mix up a workout that works for you.

Warmups for all three workouts (1000)

• 300 swim 
• 6x50 kick swim
• 200 mix swim (free/back)
• 4x50 free descend (each one 1 second faster than previous one)

main sets( pick one)

#1 (1200) IM

6x

  1x75 (25 fly/ 50 back

  1x125 (25 breast wide press fast hands forward to glide/ 100 free

#2 (1200) IM

4x

1x50 fly to back

1x50 back

1x50 back to breast

1x50 breast

1x100 free build to fast PINK/ RED/ BLUE/ PURPLE by 25

#3  (1200) FREE

3x

3x100 free (PINK/ RED/ BLUE)

2x50 kick 1 with board/ 1 no board

wrap it up

our usual UWK set with fins (800)

6x 

4x25 @30 (gold 2-4-6-8) (prep 3-5-7-9-) PURPLE FAST  when surface old rounds IMO.  even rounds RIMO

1x50 @1:15 back push your UW near the 15M mark

swim down 50 double arm back

EMOTIONS and SWIMMING

 

It’s race day and as you step onto the block your starting to feel a little anxiety which is not a bad thing, after all you’ve put in all the hard work made the sacrifices and now it’s your time to shine.  How do your emotions play into this scenario?  If you don’t have your emotions in check they can sabotage all of your hard work.

"I am not going to allow myself not to perform well just because I don't feel well.  I am bulletproof to the extent that a lot of things can be thrown at me, but it's about how much I am prepared to let them affect me." Ian Thorpe

Emotions can run the gamut from the positive to the negative and includes everything that falls in between.  The positive emotions will serve you well giving you strength and that quite confidence whereas those negative emotions serve as a weakness in your chink of armor.  Swimmers have always and will continue to react in different ways emotionally.  You need to develop a strategy on how to control your emotions when your race or workout does not go according to the plan.  Positive emotions need to be controlled as much as the negative ones.  Lets say you have a 3 day meet with a lineup of 6 events and you win your first event dropping a substantial amount of time.  The next event you raise your expectations based on that result only to fall short but still dropping some time.  You have now jumped on that roller coaster, and this is why I have always encouraged you to stay somewhere near the middle because I truly believes that puts you in the best position to be successful over the long haul.

So what are some ways that might be of benefit when trying to control your engine and emotions:

1. Check your heart rate (HR) several times a day.  Take it as soon as you wake up as this will give you a resting rate.  Take it at school a few times when your stressed and also when your not stressed.  Take it during practice several times.  by doing so you will learn to manage different situations.
2. Music listen to music as I think all of you know the positive effects it has on you.  
3. Breathe. learn how to do it and I don't mean while swimming.  Learn how to take a deep breath and hold it for several seconds then exhale very slowly.  Put a hand on your core and the other on the small of your back and press when you do it.  You can feel yourself go into a state of relaxation. 
4. surround yourself with people who have positive energy.

Bottom line, is that being an athlete especially a swimmer comes with a lot of emotional baggage.  You

and I need to find a way to not let emotions overwhelm you when you step up onto that block.  Let's work on a way to channel that emotional energy into a positive way when you race.  Don't ever give up, swim in the moment with every thing you have at that moment, that will be your victory always.    No matter what the outcome is, it does not define you as a person. You are the same person you saw in the mirror when you left the house.

THE LETTER “J”

Is the following statement true, “ swimming takes so much of my time I have no time for anything else.”   How do you juggle everything such as swimming, school, rest, homework, family, friends and everything else that comes at you every day.  It’s a lot but manageable if you have a positive mindset that allows you to let things go when they smack you in the face.

Finding balance is about planning in advance.  Let's break down your week and Ill fill in the hours that I can and you can do the rest.

• the day has 24 hours
  
  
  
• the week has 7 days
• the week has 168 hours
• swimming takes up depending on your group or amount of workouts 3 hours/4 hours/6 hours/7.5. (figure out where you fall)  that leaves about 160.5 hours at a minimum.  Thats about 5% of your week.   Interesting fact
• school takes up about 6.5 hours of the day, totaling 32.5 hours of your week (about 19% of your week)
• home work takes an average of________ hours per day.  You need to fill that one out.
• Breakfast and dinner takes an average of ________ hours per day.  You need to fill that one out also.
• sleep could differ but I'm guessing a minimum of  9 hours (63 hours a week) (about 38% of the week)
• How many hours of the week are left?_______________

When your trying to plan your week to find that balance I have some advice for you that may or may not be of value and I will dispense that advice now

1. HYDRATE YOURSELF
2. use a calendar or your diary ( take a few moments on Sunday and make plans for the week, this is when I make the general plan for your workouts for the week.)
3. do not procrastinate (stay clutter and baggage free)
4. stay on a consistent sleep schedule ( you can't maker up for lost sleep) If it's not consistent you'll be on that roller coaster with all the ups and downs and your life, school, swimming will all suffer in the end.
5. prioritize practice.  this is crucial to your success.  when your there BE there in total.  work is work don't look for excuses not to do something

Believe me on the HYDRATION! 

You're a swimmer, we all know that and see your commitment to your sport and that's a good thing.  However you need to understand that you have a life outside of the pool and you need to allow yourself to enjoy that life to it's fullest.  When you find that balance it's when all the things in your life seem to be better.

If your always occupying yourself with swimming and make little room for anything else in life, two things may occur.  "First, it's very easy to become physically and mentally burnt out.  Secondly, it can make swimming seem very monotonous and somewhat of a grind."  Both of these factors can quickly take the fun out of anything even swimming.  

Enjoying other things outside of swimming will go a long way to keep you motivated in swimming.  It will keep you fresh and allow you to keep working towards your goal.  

Now don't get me wrong I am NOT telling you to skip a bunch of practices in a row as that would be a determent to your progress and that is where the planning comes into the picture.  For example coming off a big three day meet the best thing we can do for you is to allow you to skip a practice and allow to hit the reset button.  Our jobs as coaches is to educate you to the fact that's it's okay to take that day away from the pool.  You just need to be smart about it and plan ahead.

In closing I would say that in order to stay balance focus on the now.  worrying about the task at hand.  At practice in the middle of sets I hear "Can we do this or can we do 4 rounds instead of 6?"  Your head is somewhere else b ut definitely not on the task if front of you.  That will make that task be it swimming, homework or anything you're doing seem all the more impossible.  This leads to anxiety and leave you feeling stressed out.  Everything suffers.

Finding that balance will lead to a happier  life at home, at school and in the pool.  Don't forget to reward yourself from time to time because you are important and you deserve it.

Next topic-- The Letter E

A SWIMMERS 🏊‍♀️ ALPHABET

Although your first thought might have been, “Oh no school work” but no after reading an article I thought it might be fun to put the alphabet in a swimmers framework.  As much time you put into the pool with all the hard physical work we sometimes forget about the mental side of the sport.  Let’s shine a light on the “swimmers alphabet”,  we will keep it brief and come back to the letters that you want to dive into, so here we go;

A- is for anxiety 😣

B- building a mindset👍

C- confidence 😎

D- dedication 

E- emotional control 🥲 '

F- fear ☠️

G- goals🏊‍♀️

H- having fun 🤩 

I- injuries and understanding them🚑

J- juggling 🤹‍♀️ everything

K- keeping the peace👨‍👩‍👦‍👦

L- leadership 

M- motivation

N- negative self-talk 🤮

O- overtraining 

P- perfectionist 🧖🏼‍♂️

Q- quality practice 🏊🏻‍♂️🏊‍♀️

R- resiliency 🧗🏼‍♀️

S- stress management 

T- team building 

U- underperforming 

V-  visualization 🪞

W- winning 🥇 

X- X factor ( the variable needed to obtain a successful outcome) 

Y- young athletes 🏊🏊‍♀️

Z- zen thinking (rising above to attain the absolute) 🥇

As you can see we have already discussed a few of these topics and how it may relate to your swimming.  If you had to come up with an alphabet for your personal swimming, what would it look like?  Pull out those journals and put on your thinking  🧐 caps.

LOOKING AHEAD

 

With the last meet of 2022 taking place this weekend I urge each of you to look at your goals and tweak them if you need to.  Look at your event to see if you need any for qualification purposes.  Following is the schedule of meets through FEBRUARY for your planning purposes.  Figure out what you need and please don’t wait until the last moment.  Do it now before the holidays get busy.  Your swimming is just that, yours.  TAKE OWNERSHIP.  Excuses are only a reason for failure.  Don’t go down that hole where you can’t climb out.  You have questions, write them down, bring them in and ask?  We are here to help you but you need to ask.  Just so you know my objective is to qualify as many swimmers for 14 and under champs and the national meet in Florida.

JANUARY DISTANCE MEET

January  7 1650 (mile)

January 8 1000

This is a great opportunity to come in and knock one of these events off our list.  You have an estimated time to come in warmup swim and go home.  Start the new year off by doing one thing that is scary 😧 .

In order to do this you need to be swimming during the holidays or need our permission.

JUMP START TRAVEL MEET (No qualifying times)

January 13-16

It's been a while since we have had a travel meet and this meet offers a great opportunity to race at a new facility with new competition.  It's a prelims finals meet on Saturday and Sunday and timed finals on Monday to allow travel back home and prepare for school on Tuesday.  This meet allows you to have a total of 10 individual events and yes I know you're thinking it's a lot, but that's a good thing.  We are going to use this as a training meet which is going to involve a lot of swimming which will get us ready as we charge into championship season.  Let's sign up for a full schedule for this meet.

POLAR PLUNGE MEET

January 14-15

This meet is our Mako meet and if you are not going to the travel meet you should be signing up for this meet.

IMX CHALLENGE (University of MD.)

January 27-29

This meet is a qualifying meet and one that I think is a good experience for our swimmers.  The swimmers will get both a regional and national ranking at the conclusion of swimming all events.  In order  to qualify a swimmer needs to have a minimum of 1800 points in the following events;

9-10 year olds

200 free

100 fly

100 breast

100 back

200 IM

11-12

500 free

100 fly

100 breast

100 back

200 IM

13-14

500 free

200 fly

200 IM

200 breast

200 back

400 IM

You will sign up for all three days (9-10 Saturday  and Sunday) and swim ALL THE EVENTS.  It's not the type of meet where you are only swimming events you like.  Understand that as you sign up 

MAKO QUALIFIER 

February 4-5 

This meet is for swimmers who are still trying to achieve qualifying times for any of the championship meets in March.  I f you have all your events set for the March meet you should NOT enter this meet.  If you are still trying for qualifying times for Florida you should swim those events.  Focus on the events that you have a chance for qualifying times and focus on them instead of swimming a bunch of events.

We are aware that after this meet we have about 4-5 weeks before the championship meets.  With this we are working on trying to get a meet in mid February as a last chance meet to achieve qualifying times.

SUMMARY

This is what your swimming schedule looks light through the month of February.  Take the time now to figure out which events you need so that you can plan accordingly.  Do not wait until it's to late.

Take note that if you are swimming the IMX meet you will be swimming all your long events suited up so plan for that when looking at the other meets.   Another detail to pay attention to are those events that you have qualifying times in now.  Those are the events that we want to put away until Championship season unless we do a few of them at the travel meet.  An example is that if you are 11-12 and you have a lot of the 50 times already it might be wise to just focus on 100's and 200's. Your 50 times are hard to drop coming off of this past weekend.  Just my thoughts.

Again if you have questions, need help or need to talk just ask.

RESILIENCY

Hope that you all are enjoying the little break after a long weekend of swimming.  We were all witnessed to some exciting races with a lot of personal bests being posted from all of our Mako swimmers.  First off we would like to thank all the parents for volunteering throughout a long challenging weekend and for getting your swimmers back and forth to the pool on time and safely each day.  We could not have had the success without your support and we know your swimmers appreciate it even though they sometimes forget to say it.

Parents, have you ever wondered what coaches and swimmers talk about

after a race?  Some of it is very interesting and can pretty much cover A-Z and everything in between.  Some are short, sweet and to the point and then we have the ones who want to present their graduate thesis where your eyes start bugging out and when your done you look up and you've missed several swimmers.   To give you a better glimpse of how a coach has to become a psychologist with no degree or experience other than being a coach, here is the quote of the meet.  We had this 13 year old swimmer doing a 200 fly (prelims and finals) and at every turn she just floated to the wall almost as if she was waiting for someone to bring the bulkhead to her and then move it back.  As we worked through our post race conversation and without missing a beat she just smiled and said "That's my favorite part of the race".  Oh Cally I can't beat that one!

The Mako 12 and under's showed a great amount of resiliency throughout this meet, and they would need it.  It seemed like they couldn't buy

a break over the weekend.  Each day something would happen to alter the time line and change a short session into a very long day.  On Friday we had a mishap in the pool that would shut both pools down for over two hours.  Upon returning the Mako swimmers continued to rule the pool with some amazing races with both 11 and 12 girls finishing the day going 1-2 in the 400 free relays and the 9-10 boys and girls finishing in the top 3.  It was now time for a very quick nap, and I literally mean quick as final warmups began as soon as they got out of the pool.  Needless to say we were going to skip normal warmup and just do our 2nd quick warm up and get up and race again.

Saturday would bring another adventure for our Mako swimmers.  In the middle of the 200 breaststroke when the fire alarm went off.  With everyone moving towards the exits the swimmers kept swimming determined to finish this race, which they did.  Can you imagine the timing of all this?  Breaststroke,  the one race where your head is out of there water watching and hearing all of this with every cycle and not missing a beat and determined to finish the task at hand.  After moving outside we had most of the kids gathered on the hill but were missing some of our boys.  Of course they are all up hanging out with the firemen and their big shiny trucks.  Boys and their toys.

Would Sunday bring back a sense of normalcy, yes and no.  Time line was going to be off as we had to finish the 200 breast and 100 back from Saturday and only then could we work on Sunday's list of events.  This is where our 12 and under really showed amazing stamina and character.  With a lot of them moving onto finals their day look like a unsurmountable mountain that they were going have to find a way to climb.  Picture this list of events: 

prelims 

• 200 breast 
• 100 back 
• 50 free (relay) 
• 200 IM 
• 100 free 
• 50 breast
• 200 back 
• 100 fly
• 100 (relay) 

Finals :

• 200 breast
• 100 back
• 200 IM
• 100 free
• 50 breast
• 200 back
• 100 fly

A lot of Mako swimmers had 6 races during prelims only to return and have 3 more races at finals.  Thats 9 races (long events) from 1:30 in the afternoon to 8:30 in the evening.  Needless to say at this point we were swimming on sheer exhaustion but we were able to gather ourselves and some how rise to the occasion and have some great races.

Every once in a while and when you least expect it LIFE will sometimes reach out and smack you down and it is at that moment you find out who you really are.  Will you stay down or will you pick yourselves up and keep moving forward.

Sometimes in life you have to find the courage to get up no matter what face your fears and keep moving forward.  Here is a little clip from channel 9 news that you may find interesting.

 All of you were truly amazing this weekend.

TEAM WORK

  I was having "writers block" the last few days to have a topic to discuss going into this weekends races so I reached out to a fellow coach and parent for suggestions and she said "teamwork", so let's see what we can do with this topic.

Swimming, individual or team sport?  What are your thoughts on the subject?  You may have to think outside the box when you answer that one.

Swimming by it's very nature can be a very individual sport if you allow it to happen.

What do you think would happen to the dog in the picture if his little teammate/friend was not there to help him out ?  Probably would have been able to get his toy but then would have to do a little dog paddle to get to the side, and then would he have been able to climb out?  Endless possibilities, but all avoided because of TEAMWORK.

As we said at the beginning swimming by nature can be a very individual and lonely sport if you allow it.  Think about it you dive in and begin your journey down that long black line surrounded by silence and immersed with your own thoughts when all of the sudden you are met at the end of the repeat by that familiar face, a teammate, a friend, you exchange a glance a few words to help you out and off you go.

That strong team/group culture will increase your overall success in the pool as you work towards your goals but it can also hold you back.  The swimming season is long and WE all have those days or workouts where we need some encouragement to get through.  Swimmers are not alone in this, all athletes go through it if they stay in the sport long enough.  What can you do create a positive team/group culture that will benefit everyone and ultimately yourself.

The first think you can do is "TAKE OWNERSHIP" of your swimming, something we've repeated over and over the last few years.  At some time you need to stop making excuses or coming up with reasons why you can't do something.  You need to put a foot down and it may be at that time that you have to become a leader.  Stepping up and taking the lead can be a scary thing because being that one who gets in on time or does each repeat properly and without complaining can make you stand out and it can be both hard and challenging, but you know what being excellent is not normal.  To help each of you overcome this challenge when we come back from this meet we are going to have mystery leaders of each lane periodically.

Leaders come from all types.  There are those leaders that can be very loud and boisterous but I also had very good leaders on our summer teams who are quiet and reserve.  They lead by example or they might have that one word of encouragement for a swimmer who is down and struggling.  The last thing that all leaders do is criticize, instead they motivate, encourage, help a teammate who is struggling.  Step up and help the newbies in the group, help them understand the standard and what is expected within the group.  Give them pointers, encourage them to try going a little harder, give them their times, be positive after a BIG number.  You don't have to be a superstar to have a big impact on another swimmer. 

Have you ever been put in this position during a workout; You go first! No way. You're always on my feet.  You Go.  Always going through that tug-of-war about who is going to lead.  Developing lane leaders involves so much more than about who is going first. Leading the lane involves accepting all of the following; 

•  Be First-- You should be the first in the pool.  You set the tone of the workout.  
• Attention--  You need to understand the set and what the goals of the set are.  Get others in the lane to be quiet so that they are able to hear what is expected. 
• Understand the clock-- You don't have to be a math major but you do have to do some simple arithmetic such as adding and subtracting.  So much swimming is mental and that is why I like to throw sets into the workout from time to time where we may do something on the 21 or 37. It helps keep us mentally sharp.  Lane leaders understand the clock, they leave on time, every time.
• Be Flexible--  Sometimes in the set different strokes are performed.  Help you lane mates organize so that the breaststrokers don't become road kill by the freestylers.
• Be Committed-- This simply means not getting out. Period. If you're in practice, you stay in practice until it's over.  No getting out for bathroom breaks.  No stopping during sets to fix goggles.  Whatever comes your way, you face it head on and complete the task at hand.  Whatever the coach throws your way, embrace it and set the example for the group.

Being the lane leader simply means having pride in yourself, your fellow swimmers and the task at hand.  You don't need to be a screamer.  You don't need to be a "in your face person".   Be yourself, an organized and committed athlete with the one goal of "being better" and bringing as many of your teammates with you as you can.  You bring your teammates UP to a new level instead of allowing them to flounder like a fish out of water.  

All of you have had those races where for whatever reason you seem to struggle and all of a sudden you hear a familiar voice in the distance shout out.  Somehow that voice gives you the inner strength to reach down swim a little harder and get's you to the finish.  Instead of sitting around on those cold metal bleachers, get off your butts and go to the end of the lane and cheer for your teammates no matter who it may be.  Without knowing you might also benefit by getting your blood circulation going... A WIN--WIN for everybody in the group

As a swimmer remember that practices are designed to get each of you to your goals and the time you spend in the pool is all about YOU, to challenge YOU, to make YOU better.  When we are not working together lanes, and workouts are disorganized, unproductive and in the end... nobody wins...everyone loses.

We are all in this together and we need to work as a cohesive group to keep moving forward.  In the end I believe everyone will benefit and will get better.

THANKSGIVING

 

Hopefully today finds each of you safely at your Holiday destinations surrounded by family and friends.  Each of you should take a moment today and look around and really be thankful for all that you have and I'm not talking about the material things, I'm talking about the things that truly make your life a happy one.

As for your swimming endeavors this is a great time to take stock and relish all the accomplishments you made in the last year.  For sure there were goods times and bad times, good swims and bad swims, vans with dents in them, finals in a thunderstorm, and long car rides with Heather.  But you all got to swim, race and meet new friends along the way and these are the things you should be thankful for in this sport for they will lAst longer than ribbons and medals.  They last a LIFETIME.  Where else can you dive in become fully submerged with only you, your dreams and goals away from all the Noise of daily life.  Be Thankful for that feeling.

I know I'm thankful to the sport for giving me the chance to work with some amazing kids who just happen to be great swimmers and who also have great parents that trust me to work with each of you throughout the year.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

For those of you who get the itch to find a pool and Gert in a little swim here is a little workout 

WARM UP (1200)

8 Rounds

 100 free @1:40/1:50/2:00

50 kick @1:10 (odds board evens no board)

SET (550)

2 Rounds

75 fast kick + 50 easy swim choice @2:00

50 fast kick + 25 easy swim choice @1:30

75 ALL OUT KICK @2:30 allow recovery time for next round

SET (1350)

3 rounds

3x100 IM (fly--back-- breast--  which ever stroke is your major race add a 25 to it) 20 seconds rest

3x50 free @:50  RED (80%). BLUE (90%). PURPLE (race pace)

 rest 1:00 between rounds

finish up with a 400 rest 1:00 200 rest 1:00 100 all swim paddles buoys snorkels.

LOOKING BACK AT SWIM AND ROCK

Another swim and rock has come and gone.  We hope that you all enjoyed yourself over the three days of racing.  I know that swim and rock was always my daughters favorite meet of the year.

It was great watching a lot of you doing the things that we worked on in practice and doing at such a high level during the races.  Our walls are getting stronger with each meet and we will continue to put a lot of emphasis on them.  The effort on the UW was outstanding and we will keep doing our little "perfect set" as wee move through our journey.  Do I expect you to get to the 15M mark?  No not at this stage but what I do expect is that the effort is there to get better off every wall.  A lot of the UW is a mental block.  That mental block is "being comfortable when your uncomfortable", in other words, being uncomfortable underwater.

We saw a lot of swimmers post "personal bests" throughout the weekend and you all should be very proud of your hard work.  A lot of swimmers got to experience the feeling of qualifying for finals and having the chance to get a second swim ion totally different environment.  Congratulations to all of you who swam finals.  We also had swimmers try some "scary events" for the first time and who performed well.  Shout outs to Anna Helms (400IM), Owen Hill, Katie Baldwin and Nick Harris (200 Fly), who all swam these events for the first time at PRELIMS but also returned in the evening to see if they could do it twice.  They Did and it was AWESOME you all.

GREAT JOB LAST WEEKEND

LIGHT THE MATCH

 "I am building a fire, and every day I train, I add more fuel.  At just the right moment, I light the match."  

We have a big weekend of racing coming up with the annual Swim and Rock meet at Oak Mar.  Our first prelim/final meet of our journey this season.  This will be a good measuring stick to see where we're at, in our journey this season.  As such we would like to take a moment to go over some information about the meet.

WARM UP TIMES: FRIDAY AND SATURDAY FINALS 5:00-5:50 PM

FRIDAY 11 and over 7:40-8:20 boys pool 3-7 WU pool 1-4

SATURDAY- 13 and over 7:00-7:40 Girls pool 1-8 WU 3-4

                       11-12 year olds 11:25-11:00-11:50 Girls pool 1-8

                         9-10 year olds 2:50-3:10 Girls pool 1-8. WU 3-4

SUNDAY- 13 and over 7:30-8:00 Girls pool 1-5 WU 2-4

                  11-12 year olds 11:00-11:25 Boys pool 1-7

                    9-10 year olds 3:20-3:40 Girls pool 1-8. WU 3-4

POSITIVE CHECK IN

Those of you may have events that need to be checked in before the end of warmups.  First thing, THIS IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY so make sure you take care of this.   There will be a table on deck that will allow you to do this.  At this meet the table is normally down next to the diving boards.  Check your events in as soon as you arrive and before you get in for warm ups.  If you fail to check in you may not be allowed to swim that event.  If you check in and fail to show up you will normally not be allowed to swim your next event.  

FINALS:

Friday and Saturday will be a prelim/final format.  The Top (8) 11&12 year olds will be brought back to swim in the evening.  The top (16) 13-14 and 15 and overs will be brought back to swim in the evening.

All SCRATCHES will be done virtually.  If you qualify to advance to finals you need to show up and swim.  If you fail to show up and have not scratched you will b e taken out of your next event.

If you need to scratch you need to talk to a coach and get permission before you drop it.  You better have a valid argument for scratching and saying I'm tired won't fly, but I"ll listen.

Warmups and Warm downs

Make sure that you prepare yourself for each of your events by properly warming up and warming down. 

If you have been sitting around YOU need to get in the pool and jumpstart your heart rate so that your ready to race.  TAKE OWNERSHIP of your swimming and put yourself in the best possible position to be successful.

TYPICAL SECOND WARM UP. 100 stretch out.  2x50 kick swim. 4-6 where you kick hard to the 10 meter mark in position 11 3to 4 fast strokes and return to wall.  When done put some clothes on get some water and get ready to swim fast. 

When your day comes to an end it is important to jump in the pool and do a warm down.  I know that is probably the last thing you want to debut here is why it is important.   You need to release all the bad toxins that have built up from a session of racing and being on the pool deck.  It will allow you to get a better night of sleep and will allow you to get up the next morning feeling a little better, a little fresher and ready to go at it again.  As the weekend goes on some of you (you know who you are) will need a little more yardage to get yourself ready to race.  

STAYING IN THE MOMENT

As you work your way through the meet, don't get ahead of yourself.  What do I mean by this?  Let's not worry about your seed.  Doesn't matter, it just gives you a lane to swim in.  Dive in and Race.  That is all you can control.  Don't worry about Saturday events when you have your Friday events taring you in the face.  Don't worry ab out your 400 IM when your next event is the 50 free.  Your seed does not put you into finals, you need to swim that first race in Prelims to get shot at finals.   So stay in the moment.  Handle each race as it comes around and then you can move on to the next.

AVOID THE NOISE

There is always a lot going on at a swim meet both in the pool and on the deck, both positive and negative.  Stay in your lane and avoid all the distractions that will try and tug you away from your purpose and that is to RACE. 

HAVE FUN

Lastly enjoy this moment.  The opportunity to do something that you enjoy.  The opportunity to put all your hard york over the last 2 months into a racing environment, and see just how far you have come.

Enjoy your teammates this weekend and have fun racing. 

AVOID the NOISE

 

You were ask to write down 2 practice and 2 meet fears that you all face in your swimming.  Some of you gave them to me and some did not but now the time has come to take a look at these fears.  

Let's take a look at these fears and see if we can come up with some coping mechanisms that you can use to deal with them.  There are no guarantees or promises that your fears will disappear.  The hope is that you can get to a point were they don't control you, as you step onto the blocks and that you are in a better position to remain calm and relax and just GO FOR IT.

The list;

PRACTICE FEARS

• having a fear with some part of my body (shoulder, cramps, head, foot) (5)
• not making the interval (3)
• getting lapped (2)
• being in a hard lane
• not keeping up and being behind
• doing an easy practice for long time because I feel I won't improve
• never be as fast as friends (2)
• getting injured
• having to sit out because I'm tired and getting embarrassed 
• missing practice
• distractions
• Getting burnt out

MEET FEARS

• not being prepared 
• gaining a lot of time (6)
• bad swim (9)
• getting beat (8)
• DQ (3)
• feeling embarrassed 
• feeling slow
• goggles fall off
• not being as good as sibling 
• other people getting faster but I don't (5)
• not getting a qualifying time for a meet (7)
• good effort but bad time
• missing my race
• false start (3)
• missed turn
• person next to me has faster seed time (5)
• going out too fast in a long event (4)
• distractions 
• not meeting dads or others expectations 
• not practicing as hard as others
• halving a non achievable goal

A very interesting list to be sure.  As a coach reading this I see that there is a lot of work to do on the mental side of your swimming which is as important as the work your doing in the pool.  Let's start with this premise, "I will not let the mental side sabotage my hard work in the pool."  Write it down in your journals.  Saying it is one thing but writing it down holds YOU accountable.

Swimming honestly is the toughest sport mentally out of all the sports.  Once you have reached the competitive level of the sport you need to develop a strong mental edge to be successful.  Think about it, when you step onto that block it is just you and the lane ahead.  The thrill that you have when your hand hits the pad and you look up and see a personal best on the scoreboard is thrilling for sure.  It's a testament to all of your hard work and sacrifices. 

However stepping up on the blocks can be a lonely feeling bringing with it all the stress, fears and anxieties that you shared above and they should not be dismissed, they exist and are real to each of you.  Now is the time to face those fears and to control them and use them to your advantage.

Over the next few weeks we will go through these fears and see if we can turn them around and look at them in a positive light.  A lot of these fears are directly related to practice and so that's where we will begin later this week.  If you have anything else write it on an index card and hand it to me at practice.

STRENGTH and CONDITIONING

 

Sometimes swimmers have the misconception that in order to become a stronger swimmer you can add more workouts to your week or add time to each workout.  This is true to a small extent but in order to gain strength and become stronger it will require some work and dedication from your part away from the pool.  Yes we are talking about a strength and conditioning program to not only supplement your swimming but your everyday health.  

We have been working with CAPSTONE PERFORMANCE TRAINING to come up with a program suitable for our needs.  They have designed two different programs to choose from.  The first is a on line/ hybrid model and the second is a hybrid model.  We asked them to design a 2x a week program which is perfect for you all.  We have also asked that it should be a swimming specific program. They have designed similar programs for other swimmers in our area.  Below you will find the information.